


Staircase Wit

by yotsu8a



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Flirting, First Meetings, Flirting, M/M, Sexual Tension, higuchi is dumb, i guess??, it's an au where shim accepted the spot on the national rugby team, namikawa only cameos, time shifted to present day-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 16:50:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17207210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yotsu8a/pseuds/yotsu8a
Summary: Higuchi really, really isn't used to being flirted with. Especially not by someone like this.Or, the one where Shimura is just confident enough to be overt and Higuchi is very confused.





	Staircase Wit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [empathy_junkie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/empathy_junkie/gifts).



> another holiday gift!! shimuchi might be about as much of a rarepair as you can get, but that doesn't mean i love it any less. also lev this is my second gift for u in a month, appreciate it *pensive emoji* ( kidding, ily )
> 
> content warning for some alcohol usage, discussion of smoking, gucci's shitty eating patterns ( or lack thereof ), and some minor sexual references kind of sort of not really.

His expectations for the various faces that fade through Yotsuba’s ever shifting lineup of advertising assets are never very high — in fact, they are downright nonexistent. This is mostly because Higuchi has, really, no hand at all in the marketing division of their company. Higuchi Kyosuke is, alas, little more than a small time employee in the company’s Tokyo office, begrudgingly slaving away hours of his life in attempt to claw his way up the corporate ladder with miserable results to show for it.

In reality, that’s a far cry from the truth; Higuchi Kyosuke is the twenty-eight year old son of one of Yotsuba’s higher-ups and, as a result, was essentially dropped by the back of his collar into one of the building’s highest floors. The issue is that he  _feels_  that way — because, naturally, the fact that he’s well off but not  _quite_  as well off as he could be is a result of the system being set against his poor, rich boy little self, and  _not_  a result of the fact that he is really far more unremarkable of a businessman than he has any right to be.

_I deserve so much fucking better than this_ , he tries to convince himself every morning as he clocks in for another boring day of trying to look more capable than he actually is.  _I am so goddamn talented, it’s only a matter of time._

Most days he remains unconvinced, and so any attention he pays to the company news is disgruntled and purposefully sleepy. Recently, however, he had secured himself a promotion a few rungs up in the technology sector, and so when he hears that a rugby star — one of the guys on Japan’s national team — is scheduled to take his place as the newest face of Yotsuba, he actually  _hears_  it. He doesn’t pay attention to sports of that caliber, so he’s in no rush to meet the man himself, but,  _somehow_ , he finds himself involved in some meeting with the guy — one of the first, actually.

He manages to remain focused the entire time, pays attention to what’s being said and contributes about as much as anyone would expect when it is relevant, but his eyes keep drawing themselves back to the man of the month. He can remember his name — Shimura Suguru, he’s pretty sure — and he isn’t sure why he’s taken off guard by his appearance. His hair is dark and looks …  _soft_  (okay, he’s thinking about this guy’s hair texture now, this is happening), taller than Higuchi is (which is rather par for the course, irritatingly) but not  _particularly_  tall — no, not particularly tall, but  _damn_  if he can’t see the definition of his muscles through that barely-formal shirt. His eyes, too, are dark; earnest, alert, piercing —

And looking directly at Higuchi.

It strikes him, suddenly, that he has been staring for almost a full minute now and he has absolutely no clue what sort of expression he’s making. His face reddens infuriatingly and he’s just blinking and turning towards the current speaker when he catches what he  _thinks_  is a smile from the rugby player himself.

He really, really tries his best to forget about the whole thing. The meeting wraps up without dragging its lifespan out for any longer than it needs to, and the end of the work day — hell, it’s Friday, isn’t it? — is suddenly there. He stands up and picks his papers off the table (with an embarrassingly large amount of difficulty — damn papers and their stupid tendency to get  _stuck to tables_ ) and then someone taps him on the back and he turns around and it’s Shimura.

The first thing he thinks is,  _Oh my god he has nice shoulders._

“Hey,” Shimura says, smiling at him like that explains everything. He drops his hand to chest height between them and after a moment, Higuchi realizes he’s offering him a handshake.

He accepts it with just a little bit too much vigor and prays to the god he doesn’t believe in that his palms aren’t sweaty. “Hey.”  _What the fuck is happening right now?_  “I’m, uh — ”  _god, fuck me — not like_ that _—_  “Higuchi. Higuchi Kyosuke.”  _Okay. Okay. You can still salvage this, Kyosuke, lay on the charm._  He straightens his posture and pulls up the right end of his mouth into a toothy half-smile. He’s been told (he was told once) that he has dazzling teeth, so he trusts them to do at least some of the talking. “I’m — ”

“Oh, I already know who you are,” Shimura interrupts, and he is smiling far too warmly for it to make Higuchi angry, and  _fuck_  is this guy chiseled. “I mean, we spoke some during the meeting, didn’t we? Sorry, maybe that was a little bit rude of me. I didn’t mean to come off that way — I was just going to ask if you wanted to go out for a drink sometime.”

_What?_  Higuchi thinks.

“What?” Higuchi says.

Shimura’s smile turns just a little bit anxious. “I mean, it was just an offer. Drinks on me and all that. But, I mean, if you don’t  _want_  to — ”

“No, no, that’s not it. I just, uh — ”  _didn’t think you’d be showing interest in me for some reason —_  “oh, you know. It’s nothing.” Higuchi realizes that he had lost his smile at some point and quickly regains it, running a hand over his hair and hoping to invoke the effect of running his fingers  _through_  it without posing the risk of messing up all that meticulously placed hair gel. “Yeah, I’m game. Hell, we could go tonight, if you want.”

“Oh — oh, that would be nice — I wouldn’t be imposing on your schedule, would I?”

_Fuck, he thinks I have a social life. Wait — no, I_ do _have a social life! Just not … tonight._  “Hey, hey, it’s not a problem!” Higuchi raises his hands placatingly. “I’m a busy guy, yeah, but it’s no big deal. I mean, I can set aside some time for the new face of the company, yeah? My … friends will understand. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“You are  _too_  kind, Higuchi.” Shimura beams and pats him on the shoulder. Higuchi gets goosebumps. “Oh, but I came in one of the agency’s cars — you wouldn’t mind driving us both, would you?”

_Please let me show you my car —_  “‘Course not, ‘course not.” Higuchi adjusts his tie and it dawns on him that that question adds a few  _implications_ to the entire situation. Actually, this entire conversation has been like that — but no, surely he’s just imagining things. There’s no way Shimura would’ve been able to guess that he was into men from this discussion and a half — he’s not  _that_  obvious, right?

While Higuchi’s busy contemplating the presentation of his own sexuality, Shimura exchanges a few words with a black-donned man hovering impatiently by the door. The man departs with a shrug and Shimura turns back around.

“Perfect, then!” He claps Higuchi on the back without being  _too_  rough. It’s kind of hot. “You can pick where we go, if you want.”

Higuchi gives Namikawa Reiji the smuggest look known to man on the way out. Namikawa responds by looking kind of bored and about as vapid as he always does.

“Nice car,” Shimura comments a few minutes later.

“ _Oh yeah_ ,” Higuchi replies, immediately, with maybe a little (a lot) too much enthusiasm. He revs the engine. “She’s a Porsche 911 Turbo S, you know. I got her — what, a few months ago? She’s my newest car — I’ve got a few more at my place. Great car, really agile. Got ‘er own rear-wheel steering system. They also upped the…”

The ride is short enough for him to spend the entire duration of it advertising his car model very effectively — rather, it  _would_  have been effective if Shimura was in the market for a new car, which, as far as Higuchi knows, he is not. He parallel parks just a little too close to the car behind him and finishes with a grandiose, “…Incredible vehicle!”

He finally turns back to Shimura and finds him facing Higuchi, arm swung over the back of his seat and lips pulled up into an amused smile. Sounding remarkably as if he’d been keeping count of just how long Higuchi could describe his own car, he replies, “It’s very red.”

Higuchi’s face is almost as red as they enter the bar. He chooses a booth tucked away in the back, relatively private and secluded as far as these things go. Shimura smiles and asks Higuchi to order for him; he isn’t too big on alcohol, apparently. Just a social drinker (unlike Higuchi, who tends to spend his weekends drinking his very expensive wine alone in his room, but Shimura doesn’t need to know that.)

“Not very big on cigarettes, either,” Shimura adds, frowning distastefully and picking up the menu — it  _is_  about dinner time, isn’t it? “Thanks for choosing somewhere non-smoking.”

“God, no, me too.” Higuchi scowls, momentarily forgetting that he really doesn’t know Shimura very well. “Shit’s disgusting — the smoke kills me. I’d rather die.”

And now Shimura looks amused again — at Higuchi’s choice of language, probably. “ _Kills_  is a good word for it. Secondhand smoking and all that. It just isn’t very healthy to be around, is it? I’d like to preserve my lungs. I mean, I kind of  _need_  them, especially if I’m going to keep my job.”

“Uh, yeah — rugby and all that.” Higuchi pauses. “I, er, don’t actually know a ton about rugby.”  _Why did I just admit that? What’s happening?_  “It’s kind of like American football, right?”

“… I don’t know why you’d know more about  _American football_  than rugby,” Shimura responds after a moment, raising his eyebrows; then his smile softens. “I’m kidding. You know, rather than have me explain it, why don’t you come and see a game sometime? I could get you tickets.”

“Oh, I don’t need you to get tickets  _for_  me. I have plenty of money for that.” Higuchi waves his hand with about as much self-awareness as a bookmark; he piles on the bravado (what he  _thinks_  is bravado) to compensate for the weird excited feeling he got in his chest as soon as Shimura issued his invitation. “But sure, I’ll come to a game sometime.”

Shimura laughs in a single, short burst and then stops himself, covering his mouth with a hand. “I — yes, great. Fantastic. I look forward to it.”

Higuchi reddens (again). “What?”

“What?”

“What’s so funny?”

Shimura coughs into his hand and then drops it very carefully to the table. “Nothing. N-nothing. It’s just — I don’t know. I just like you, that’s all.” He’s still smiling, and before Higuchi has a chance to say anything (which is good, because he has no clue  _what_  to say) adds, “Anyways, I think it’s only fair that you get to see me while I’m working, right? Since I’ll be around you in the office every so often.”

“Yeah, y-yeah. Uh… Yeah.”  _What the fuck was_ that _? Is he_ flirting _with me?_  The thought makes him feel just a little bit  _too_  happy — he can’t take it as the truth just yet, but that doesn’t make  _formulating a response_  any easier. “I, uh…”

“Are you alright? You look … feverish.” Shimura looks a little concerned but he’s still fucking  _smiling_  and  _oh my god is he teasing me?_

“Fine,” Higuchi insists falsely, graciously interrupted as their drinks are served. Shimura orders something to eat; Higuchi does not.

“You don’t want to get anything?” Shimura asks once the server leaves, glancing indifferently to the glass resting before him on the table. “You must be hungry.”

“Not really — well, maybe a little bit — I don’t know.” What Higuchi  _doesn’t_  say is that is eating habits are inconsistent and poorly maintained at the best of times, for one reason or another, and he’s feeling a little bit  _weird_  right now so the thought of ordering something hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“You can have some of mine. It’s not like I’ll eat all of it.” Shimura shrugs his shoulders — his  _very nice_  shoulders. “What were we talking about — work? Do you get along with your coworkers?”

“Oh, yeah, of course!  _Everyone_  loves me!” Higuchi splutters, waving the question off with a very animated hand gesture and taking a generous sip of alcohol. He accidentally cringes at the taste. “Everyone except that asshole in sales.”

Shimura is grinning from ear to ear. “Who?”

“Namikawa. We passed him on the way out of the office building — tallish guy, slim, long hair. Arrogant, smug little …” He bites the inside of his cheek. “… little  _muppet_. His dad is in charge of the American branch, you know, otherwise he wouldn’t be working in the company at all. He graduated from Harvard, fuck if I know  _how_. Or how he got in in the first place. He’s a stupid little … uh, he’s not very smart.”

Shimura laughs again, louder this time. “I can think of a few people like that.” He brushes his bangs out of his eyes. “Seeing him every day must not be fun.”

“It’s whatever,” Higuchi says, even though it is most definitely  _not_  whatever. “He’s in a different department, anyways. It’s not like I lie awake at night wondering how he got so successful so quickly. I mean, he’s — what, twenty-five? I bet he’s having an affair with — ” He manages to stop himself and clears his throat.  _The president already has one too many illegitimate children._

“Of course you don’t,” Shimura replies earnestly. “But still, I’m sorry you have to deal with that at all. You should try integrating more positive people into your life, Higuchi.”

“Yeah?” Higuchi smirks bitterly and takes another drink. “Any suggestions?”

“Well, I’ll be around.” Shimura has the gall to  _wink_  at him. “The season is ending before too long and all that. Advertising campaign aside — I’ll have some slots opening up. You said you could keep your schedule accommodating, right? I hope it wouldn’t be an intrusion.”

“Oh.” Higuchi freezes in his tracks, hand hovering around the base of his glass, momentarily suspended in confusion. “ _Oh_ , I — yeah.” He straightens his posture aggressively; this is weird, this is all very  _sudden_ , but he can work with this. He’s Higuchi  _fucking_  Kyosuke, isn’t he? He’s charming and attractive and talented and charismatic — he’s charmed this Shimura guy,  _somehow_ , after all — and a little bit of  _overt flirtation_  (that is what’s going on here, isn’t it?) isn’t going to intimidate him.  _Especially_  when the guy isn’t half-bad looking himself.

God, look at those rippling muscles. That shirt  _must_  not be big enough. Fuck.

Apparently he spent too long internally hyping himself up without saying anything, because Shimura looks a little bit worried. “Sorry if that was too forward of me,” he says anxiously, drink still untouched. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, especially since we just met and all.”

“No, that’s not — no, man, it’s okay. It’s  _totally_  okay,” Higuchi insists. “I’m with you.”

“Good. Alright, good.” Shimura visibly relaxes a little bit, casually taking a (very small) sip of his own drink. “Can I ask something a little bit more forward, then?”

Higuchi leans back in his seat, playing up his smirk just a little bit. “Shoot.”

“Do you want to drive me back to your place after this?”

**Author's Note:**

> yeah shim literally looked at gucci and was like 'this little gremlin is OBVIOUSLY not heterosexual, i'd better go ask him out' bc that's just how it be and shim is basically psychic ( and also gucci was staring at him for like an hour so ...... )
> 
> http://sugurushimura.tumblr.com/


End file.
